[psl] 2004: the weight of the world resting on my back

[firewatcher]

At least Maria could be certain that Danielle would be up at this time of night. Small favors of having a vampire in the family—you could always be sure they'd be up in the middle of the night if you needed to talk about something. Normally she would have asked Sam, but—well.

That was the thing, wasn't it?

She picked up the phone, and dialed the familiar number, hoping that she could manage to at least sound less tired than she felt. "Hey, Danielle," she said. "It's me."

Comments

[firewatcher]

Heh. "Night, Danielle."

Maria ended the call, and stood there for a moment just breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. As long as you're breathing it's not the worst it could be. It was late enough that by the time she got to bed she'd probably drop off right to sleep, anyway. None of that lying awake for hours.

She placed the phone back in its cradle on the table, and stretched, again before crossing the library toward the main downstairs hallway, flicking off the light as she went. It must have been because of the darkness that she only barely she was about to walk into Andy as she turned into the hall.

"Andy—yeesh, sorry, I didn't hear you come in," she said, regaining her balance and flicking on the hallway light. "How'd the concert go?"

He shrugged. "It was all right," he said. "It was fine. Pretty average show, not a lot of people out on a weeknight."

"Yeah, guess so. You've got another one this weekend, right? Maybe that'll be better."

"Oh—yeah, I do," he said, seeming a little surprised she'd remembered. "On Saturday. I'll probably be out pretty late, you know how those shows run long."

She nodded. "Yeah, it happens." How long had he been standing out there? "You need any help putting your gear away? I was going to go to bed, but I've got a few minutes."

"No—no, I don't, it's fine," he said, quickly. "Already put the stuff away, don't worry about it. I'll probably stay up for a while, anyway."

"All right," Maria said, shrugging, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't forget and get some rest, too, dude."

Andy heaved a sigh. "Don't worry, Maria, I'll be fine."

"Suit yourself," she said, and headed up the stairs. She couldn't help but think, though—was he, really? That, however, was a question for another day.